


All We Have

by Cai_Artz



Series: Best frenemies to lovers [2]
Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Angst, Communication, Cuddling, Dhawan!Master - Freeform, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Talking, they cuddle my guys, they talk it out y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-12
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-22 14:55:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 10,786
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22217827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cai_Artz/pseuds/Cai_Artz
Summary: Based on a request from tumblr!Can you do a 13/Dhawan!master fanfiction where the two of them were comforting each other after the Master burned Gallifrey (lets say he had a good reason even if we don't know the truth yet) and they fall asleep cuddling and team TARDIS walks in and finds them cuddling and is like,,, "The Doctor is cuddling guy who tried to kill us and destroy the human race wtf???"
Relationships: Thirteenth Doctor/The Master (Dhawan)
Series: Best frenemies to lovers [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1600012
Comments: 85
Kudos: 433





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> My inbox is open! If you want to make a request do it here:
> 
> www.tumblr.com/gayforthe13th

The Doctor made quick work of pulling the Master out of the other dimension after her trip to Gallifrey, if only to demand answers again. She found him hunched over on the ground, clutching at his hair as angry sobs escaped his lips. It took a lot to convince him to enter the TARDIS, though in the end he didn’t put up much of a fight. He looked broken, ruined, but she knew it wasn’t because of losing to her. “Why did you do it?” she asked once they were both sitting in the TARDIS’ designated living room, their knees touching as they basked in solemn silence. 

It was a minute before the Master spoke, his voice rough with pain, “they lied to us,” he hissed, his fists digging into his dress pants. The Doctor put a gentle hand on his, feeling his body relax under her touch. “They...They forced us into the academy, forced us to fight in their stupid war. Resurrected me only to cast me aside again..and all of it for a lie.” He sucked in a breath, shuddering as the Doctor placed a gentle hand on his cheek. 

“Master, look at me,” she muttered, dark eyes meeting soft green ones. “They hurt us both… ruined both our lives.”

“They deserved to be burned.”

“No, Master. Think of the others, the children, all those innocent people.”

“I  _ saved _ them. From becoming like us!” His voice broke as he spoke, she pulled him into a hug, feeling his sob and shake against him. She knows the feeling, understands every thought going through his head as he clutched onto her. 

“Master,” she says, “Koschei… stay with me.” It's not a request, it's a plea. She runs her fingers through his hair as he buries his face in her neck, his hot breath against the hollow of her neck as he slowly relaxes. 

“Theta..”

“Let it just be us. Me and you, I need you with me.” He sighs, leaning up to press a hard kiss to her lips, pouring his emotions into the kiss, clinging to her like he was afraid she’d disappear.

“I’m not good…” he mutters against her lips, she cups his cheek, rubbing her thumb against the rough stubble.

“Neither am I,” she whispers, pulling him into another kiss. He shifts, hovering over her body as  he presses her into the couch, his hand tracing the shape of her body. The kiss becomes desperate,  she digs her hand into his hair, grabbing a fist full of it. Her other hand finds its way to his neck,  she presses him closer the both of them fitting perfectly against each other. They weren’t perfect. She realizes, and in a sense, they were the same though they strove to be different things. Both of them wanted someone,  _ needed  _ someone so desperately. They pull apart to breathe after a moment, the Master pressing feather-light kisses to her cheek and down her neck until coming to rest his head against her chest, taking in the sound of twin heartbeats. “My Koschei,” she purrs nuzzling her face into his hair. She falls asleep before she can hear him respond, but she’s sure he said ‘I love you.’

Yaz was the first to decide she wanted to go back to adventuring after going to see if her parents were alright. They were. Everything was back to normal almost as if nothing had happened at all. But it did, she was in the thick of it, she remembered every second of almost dying and then some. She met up with Graham and Ryan at the front of the TARDIS, which, surprisingly, had still been parked in front of her building where it had last left them. She assumed the Doctor had been expecting them, for the door had opened with ease. Or maybe the ship was just used to their presence, she had recalled the Doctor saying it was sentient in a way. “Hey, where’s the Doc?” Ryan had asked as they stepped into an empty console room.

“Probably somewhere further in, let's go look for her. She’s probably shaken up after everything that happened,” Yaz said, earning a nod from Graham and a grunt from Ryan who refused to acknowledge what had happened earlier that day. The trio traversed into the TARDIS’ interior, walking along a corridor that seemed to stretch forever. They knew enough to understand that the TARDIS would eventually take them where they wanted to go, and she did. At the end of the hallway was a door, the trio shared a look before heading towards it. 

“After you,” Ryan said, nudging his grandfather forward.

“Oi why me? It’s ladies first.” Graham hissed. Yaz merely rolled her eyes before knocking on the door once, then twice, then three times. There was no answer. Yaz shared a fearful look with her friends, the collective agreement that something must be wrong passed between them. ‘One, two, three’ Yaz mouthed, pushing the door open on three the group ran inside ready to fight only to come face to face with-

“What the fuck!?” It was Ryan who had woken them up, his outburst loud enough to wake the Master first, he toppled over and fell to the floor, dragging the female Timelord down with him. The two aliens let out a collective groan. 

“Uhm...Hiya fam,” the Doctor had the decency to look sheepish, the Master on the other hand merely grinned, placing a hand on the Doctor’s waist as she tried to sit up forcing the Doctor back down so they were chest to chest. 

“Do you mind?” he said, smirking up at the three bewildered companions. The Doctor rolled her eyes, digging her fingers into his side enough to make him laugh and loosen his grip. 

“Good to see that still works,” she grins lifting herself into a sitting position. The Master merely huffs, flopping onto his back. 

“Okay, is anyone going to tell me whats going on!?” Yaz steps forward, her arms crossed over her chest. The Doctor is avoiding her eye, and the Master’s gaze is trained on the woman sitting beside him. “Why is he here?” she continues, “are you forgetting he tried to kill us!?”

“Oh please, that’s just our flirting,” the Master purrs pressing a kiss to the Doctor’s cheek. She doesn’t deny it, but she has the decency to look guilty.

“Doc?” Graham’s voice forces her to look up, though she slightly avoids everyone’s eye. 

“Look, I know how it seems but…” she looks over at the Master, placing her hand over his, “we’ve been friends for a really long time. It’s...complicated.” This answers no one's questions, but Graham was used to her not doing that. 

“I can’t forgive what he’s done,” Yaz says, and the Doctor smiles up at her.

“I don’t expect you to.” The Master, for once, stays silent though he squeezes the Doctor’s hand gently to let her know he isn’t going anywhere. The trio share glances before finally turning back to the two aliens before them.

“Okay...well, whatever this is you owe us an explanation,” Yaz says, and the Doctor promises to explain but she knows she won't, at least not in any solid way. Regardless they leave the two Timelords to their own devices, Ryan sparing them a glance before shutting the door behind him.

“Will you tell them?” The Master says, pressing soft kisses to her neck.

“One day,” she responds, pushing him away to stand up and flop back onto the couch, “now get over here, I haven’t slept that well in ages.” The Master is quick to oblige.


	2. Snake on A Ship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Master terrifies the fuck out of everyone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm making this a sort of series of one shots based around a larger story!
> 
> if you want to leave a request or just come say hi you can do so here!
> 
> www.tumblr.com/gayforthe13th

The Master had been staying with them for a bit. Except, it wasn’t really staying, he had his own TARDIS he would pop back to from time to time only to come back in about a day or two. He would saunter into the TARDIS as if he lived there, and the Doctor would welcome him in with only a mild air of annoyance, quickly snuffed out once he pulled her into a hug or a quick kiss. Per the Doctor request, this never happened when the others were around, but that didn’t stop them from coming in later and being pissed that he was there in the first place.

He slunk about the ship like he owned it, to the annoyance of Yaz who remembered him pretending to be surprised at the ship's existence the first time they met. He’d always end up wherever she was, which was more often than not, the library. She would find him lounging on the couch reading whatever book he happened to pick up. It was always something different. Sometimes the Doctor would be there too, her head on his lap as he read. The sight would be cute if she weren’t lying on the guy who tried to kill them all. Today though there was no Doctor just the Master, lounging on the couch with a random comic book in his hand, kicking his legs like a toddler over the side of the couch. “You’re staring,” he said after a moment, “can I be of assistance?” he looked up from his reading, dark eyes trained on her as she stood. She shuddered, shaking her head.

“Why are you here? What are you planning?” the Master rolled his eyes, tossing the comic behind his head. 

“Currently, I was trying to read. Later,” he stands, sauntering up to her, “the Doctor and I might be a bit busy.” he was almost her height, but it felt like he was towering over her. She shuddered at the thought, pushing past him to head further into the library.

It was Graham who saw him next, puttering about the kitchen taking two cups from the cabinet and placing them onto the counter. “Don’t mind me mate,” Graham says with an air of cheerfulness, though his body is stiff like he’s waiting for the Master to strike. The Master, however, merely grunts taking two tea bags from another cabinet while Graham slowly pulls a sandwich from the fridge. He jumps back when the Master reaches inside to pull out the milk. 

“Relax,” he says, placing the milk on the counter, “I’m not going to bite.”

“Yeah well, forgive me if I don’t exactly believe that.” The Master rolls his eyes, filling a kettle with water before placing it on the stove. The tension in the room seems to leave once the Doctor walks in, though she seems completely oblivious to it.

“Hello Graham!” she says, chipper as always, she leaned her body against the counter much to the annoyance of the Master who now had to maneuver around her to get to the sugar. Graham only nods, taking a bite of his sandwich as he sits at the kitchen table. “I hope he isn’t giving you much trouble,” she says next, nodding to the Master who huffs.

“ _ Me?  _ Giving  _ him _ trouble? I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t want tea.” He says, but there’s no bite to it in fact if Graham wasn’t so busy staring at the Doctor in complete confusion he would have noticed the soft smile on the Master’s face as the Doctor softly hit his arm. 

Ryan was the last to run into the Master. He had popped out of one of the many rooms within the TARDIS while Ryan happened to be walking down the same hallway. The Master wished he had his phone out then and there because Ryan practically leaped into the air with a loud yelp. “Y-you can’t do that to me!” he whines, leaning his body against the far wall with his hand over his heart. 

“I didn’t do anything. Might wanna watch where you’re going.” 

“Look, O-”

“The Master.”

“Yeah, I’m not calling you that. Listen, don’t you have your own ship?” the Master’s gaze bore into Ryan’s psyche, immediately making him regret his last sentence. 

“I can be wherever I want. Unless you have something to say about that,” the Master’s grin was almost feral. Ryan shakes his head and the Master’s grin turns into a soft satisfied smile. He leaves him standing there, afraid to take another step.


	3. Therefore

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> grossed out humans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to come say hi or leave a request you can do so here
> 
> www.tumblr.com/gayforthe13th

The thing about being in a ship with two extremely intelligent aliens was the fact that you can never really tell if they were flirting or conducting an experiment. Currently, Ryan was the only one in the room with them, seeing as Yas and Graham had gone to sleep for the night. He had tried to make conversation, but making conversation was never easy with the Doctor let alone two. They were speaking to each other, whispering and laughing, something about Axons and cheetah people. Ryan was starting to get bored, “don’t you two ever sleep?” he said, in lieu of changing the subject. The Master turned his attention to him, his gaze still sent shivers down his spine, he was never gonna get used to that. The Master’s stare dug into his soul like he was reading it, he wondered if the Timelord had always been that scary. 

“I’m not human, therefore I do not require sleep,” beside him the Doctor snorted, rolling her eyes.

“You sleep more than me,” she says, and Ryan watches the Master’s demeanor fall to something softer. It’s almost tender the way he pulls her into a kiss and Ryan would find it endearing if it wasn’t so absolutely disgusting. With a groan, he departs from the room, leaving the two to their devices. The Master pulls back as soon as he’s sure Ryan’s out of the room and makes his way back up to his stop atop the stairs so he can continue tinkering with the puzzle game in his hands. “Did you really just do that to make him leave?” the Doctor shook her head hiding her amusement behind the wires she was messing with.

The Master doesn’t answer her, instead, he asks, “Why do you keep messing with it? Your ship is old Doctor, there isn’t much left to fix.”

“Old, yes, but she’s definitely still sturdy. Just in need of some TLC.”

“I’m in need of TLC…” he mutters, tossing the puzzle aside. The Doctor chuckles, plugging wire to the console causing it to spark. “You know, I keep my TARDIS in pretty good shape,” the Master says, teasing. 

“You stole several TARDIS’ before this one.” 

“Look at us,” he purrs, “two mixed-up kids. Stealing TARDIS’” 

“Oh, do shut up,” she huffed, letting out a triumphant ‘aha!’ as she plugs another wire into the ship and this time it doesn’t spark. The Master, tired of not getting the attention he deserves, climbs off his spot atop the stairs and makes his way over to her, wrapping his arms around her waist he pulled her towards his chest and presses a flurry of kisses onto her neck. She sighs, biting her lip so as not to let him see her smile. 

“C’mon Doctoor,” he whines, nipping softly at her neck. For a moment he feels her relax, and so, in turn, does he. As soon as she feels his grip start to relax she’s spinning them around, pinning him to the console with a smirk. 

“You underestimating me now that I’m a girl Koschei?”

“Oh, never. That just makes it more fun.” He’s pulling her into another kiss. 

Down the corridor, Graham regrets getting up for a drink.


	4. "You're the Puppy"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remember when Missy completely obliterated Clara with one line? Cuz I do.

When her companions had woken up she had noticed they seemed surprised (if not a bit worried) to find the Master nowhere near her. She didn’t say anything about it, it wasn’t currently of any importance considering she knew exactly where he was and nobody seemed to be in the mood to ask. Instead, she suggested they visit another vacation planet, “no end of the world this time I promise,” she joked but the wound was still fresh and the answering glares were enough to tell her that. Things had been off recently, she supposed she was to blame for it. It didn’t help that she wouldn’t tell them anything after their first run-in with the Master and now he was practically wandering in and out of her TARDIS like a house cat. “Right, well I do know this wonderful marketplace. It’s an entire planet repurposed into a massive farmer’s market! Each ‘country’ of sorts sells a different selection of things.” she tried to make herself sound exciting like she was selling a theme park. “I was thinking we could check out the food market first.” It worked well enough on Graham, who was down to try alien food. The other two were a little harder but reluctantly agreed regardless. 

“Maybe while we eat, you can tell us where the Master went and why you’re letting him walk around your ship willy nilly,” Yaz spat, crossing her arms over her chest and fixing the Doctor with a glare.   
“He popped back to his TARDIS. I don’t keep him here.”  
“But you let him go! What if he kills someone?!”

The Doctor merely shakes her head plugging in the coordinates she pulls the lever and the TARDIS groans to life. They land in a random town, the ‘Country’ itself being an amalgamation of towns and cities designed for different types of food. Graham had insisted they landed in the dessert section first and then go have lunch. They spend their time on the planet happy enough. With Ryan gagging every time Graham tries literally anything and Yaz with the Doctor as she explains every alien artifact and food group Yaz shows interest in and watches as her eyes light up in wonder. 

It was all well and good, until the Master sauntered up to them, scaring the absolute shit out of everyone except for the Doctor who happily shoves a glowing green cupcake in his face as soon as he stops beside her. “Try this! Remember this stuff? What the hell even is this stuff?” he rolls his eyes at her as if she was an annoying child, but humors her by taking a bite of the cake anyway. 

“I never knew really,” he looks up at her pets who seemed to have died of shock, at least, he assumed they did because all three of them were frozen in place sending him different looks of collective disgust and that's how most of his victims usually looked when they died. “Hello there, apes.” The Doctor slaps his arm, he sucks his teeth in annoyance and puts a hand over the offending area.   
“Don’t say that it’s not nice.”  
“Whatever,” he mutters, “anyway I tracked you here because I'm bored and the Sontarins weren’t any fun to mess with anymore.”  
“I hope you didn’t start a war.”  
“Oh please, they have one brain cell and they share it between them!” in front of him Ryan snorts, earning a glare from Yaz and Graham who nudge him like he just betrayed them. He looks at the Doctor questioningly but Ryan seems to understand because he answers his unspoken question.  
“It’s a human joke. The brain cell thing.”  
“Really?” the Master hums, “I feel like I invented it.”  
“Knowing time travel you probably did,” the Doctor says, patting him on the shoulder before clapping her hands to gain the attention of her pets who look over at her expectantly. “Right! There’s a show in the main square later, let's go get some lunch in the next section over and then find some seats.” she turns to the Master and tilts her head, “are you coming love?”  
“You know you can’t get rid of me,” he says, looping her arm through his.

They ended up taking the TARDIS to the next ‘state’? ‘City?’ over and finding a nice outdoor cafe to sit and eat at. Ryan and Graham happily chowed down on their meals that is, until the Doctor had gotten up to bother the vendor leaving the Master alone with the trio. They were eyeing him warily, but he wasn’t really paying attention, instead, watching the Doctor fondly as she spoke enthusiastically to the vendor who clearly did not get paid enough for her antics. The humans caught his attention when Yaz shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “You know I’m not going to kill you, trust me if I was I would have done it already.”  
“Is that supposed to comfort me?” she growls, beside her Graham makes an attempt to calm her by placing a hand on her shoulder.  
“Yes, considering the Doctor is fond of you and I’m not trying to get on her bad side.”  
“How are you even friends? You’re no friend to her.” Beside her, Ryan snorts possibly remembering the time he watched them suck face in the console room.  
“Its complicated,” The Master says, rolling his eyes. “We’re friends...more than friends, it's just different than your human definition of relationships.”  
“Oi. I like to think we’re her friends,” Ryan says, food falling from his mouth as he spoke. Yaz cringed, giving him a disgusted look which he quickly responded to by wiping his face and sticking his tongue out. The Master’s scoff gains their attention again, and now all eyes were on him.  
“If you think you’re her best friend then what does that make us?” She asks, purposefully ignoring the fact that he had admitted to being anything more than the Doctor's friend. The Master hums, surveying the surrounding area.   
“See that couple over there,” he says, pointing towards two women giggling to each other, one of them stroking a creature on her lap. “You’re the pet,” he finished, grinning at them. Yaz huffed, she opened her mouth to retort but at that moment the Doctor made her way back over and sat beside him, handing him a pile of what could have been chips but probably were not. He ate them anyway if only to make her happy.


	5. Slow Dance With You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Self-indulgent fluff fest

When the Doctor dropped her companions off for the week to let them visit their families she sent a quick text to the Master to tell him she was free. This resulted in there being a knock on her TARDIS door as soon as she landed it on a nearby steadily floating asteroid and the Master stepping into her ship with his best suit on. “I have a proposal for you,” he had said, sauntering over to her, “let's go on a date.” 

“Remember the last time we went on a date Koschei?” The Doctor said, sidestepping past him and back towards her console. The Master hummed as if remembering a fond memory, gently taking her hand and twirling her towards him.

“I was a woman if I recall,” he whispered, one hand found its way to her waist, the other still holding her hand in his as he swayed to invisible music. 

“Back on Gallifrey,” she said, squeezing his hand as they ‘danced’. 

“I’d like to think of our little games as dates too.”

“No,” the Doctor chides as she spins her again, she slips her hand out of his grasp to wrap her arms around his neck, “that was courting.” He chuckles, leaning his forehead against hers, they sit in relative silence for a moment, swaying contemptibly to the sound of the TARDIS’ soft hums.

“I was thinking, a nice picnic on Valor 3.” the Doctor hummed, smiling at the thought. 

“Under the moon?” she asks, running her fingers through soft brown hair.

“If you’d like.” She would, she would like that very much. Pulling away from him she presses a kiss to his lips before taking a final step back.

“Okay, I’m gonna go put on something nice wait here!” then she practically skips out of the room while the Master watches her leave with a fond smile. 

She looked stunning, standing before him in a light blue sundress as his mouth hung open. She pressed a kiss to his cheek, “right, close your mouth before you catch flies love.” Shaking his head he watches as she sets the TARDIS into flight.

“Hey aren’t I supposed to be taking you on this date?” 

“Oh hush your TARDIS is right beside mine, you can get the picnic you mentioned once we land.” And so that’s what he did, disappearing into his TARDIS once they had landed he came back out with a picnic basket, a blanket, and a grin on his face. Gently he laid out the picnic, watching as the moon reflected the wine glasses he had set out for the two of them. Neither of them really drank, but it was a special occasion. The Doctor sat beside him as he pulled out their food and laid it down. He pressed a kiss to her head as she leaned it on his shoulder and looked up at the sky. Valor 3 was beautiful, the whole planet was covered in blue grass and iridescent water that reflected the shine of its moon. The mood only came out once a year but when it did it brought with it a spectrum of pink and purple lights in the sky, the nebula only seen once the sun was gone. The flora was luminescent and glowed with strange colors as they bloomed in the moonlight. It was beautiful. Yet the Doctor had never gone there with her human companions, the planet itself was toxic to humans, so she could never share it with anyone else. Until now that is.

She stood up quickly, much to the Master’s confusion, and offered her hand out to him. “Dance with me?” she asked. The Master chuckled, taking her outstretched hand he lifted himself up and let her wrap her arms around his neck once again as his hands found their way to her waist. There was no music, but the Master hummed an ancient song in her ear, as they swayed to the sound of the nearby ocean waves and the chirping of unknown animals. “This is amazing, thank you,” she muttered against his ear, pressing a kiss to his cheek. The Master didn’t answer, didn’t stop humming, just pulled her closer, buried his face in the crook of her neck, and swayed.


	6. In Light of Loving You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is love?
> 
> Baby don't hurt me

The Doctor had been in a very good mood lately, a better mood than she had been for weeks, and her companions were starting to notice. Their adventures were often, she’d always jump into a new one with a spring in her step. They couldn’t win them all, but that didn’t seem to bring her mood down. She  _ hummed _ now, a song none of the humans recognized but she sang it with such quiet enthusiasm they had grown to like it regardless. ‘If this is what getting laid does to a person sign me up,’ Ryan had said to Yaz one day as they traversed a jungle planet in search of the nearby city's  lost artifact. Yaz had merely scoffed, shaking her head, but the more she watched the Doctor the more she came to realize that it wasn’t ‘getting laid’ that wasn’t what brought a smile to her face or the adrenaline back into her. It was love. The Doctor was in love, plain as day, and Yaz had a feeling she knew who she was in love with.

When the Master came around again Yaz studied him carefully, knowing that he noticed but not really caring. She was looking for something specific. See, Yaz recognized that unlike the Doctor the Master was more subtle with his affections, he didn’t have his heart on his sleeve so to speak, but the signs of love were there regardless. It was in the gentle smile she found him giving the Doctor whenever she wasn’t looking, or the way his breath hitched when she came near, or the way his hands seemed to reach out to her on their own accord. His love was subtle but it was there, and she didn’t think either Timelord truly understood the depth of their emotions. Sure they would say that they did, “a friendship older than your civilization,” the Master would say when she asked him to truly define their relationship. He called it friendship, every time without fail, but Yaz was pretty sure you don’t kiss your friends like they’re what you need to breathe. 

When she asked the Doctor, she would avoid the question, stutter her way into changing the subject and continue on with what she was doing. Both Timelords had one thing in common, they talked but they never said anything. Sure the Master would answer questions but he’d answer them vaguely, hidden under the guise of wanting them to figure it out for themselves. The truth was that he didn’t truly want them to know. Sometimes, when they thought they were alone, Yaz would catch them speaking to each other in a language she didn’t recognize as they sat side by side by the TARDIS doors, looking out into the empty space. Sometimes the conversation would stop altogether, but they would still look like they were having one, the Master’s forehead pressed against the Doctor’s as they gazed into each other's eyes. Those conversations would always end in them kissing and Yaz quickly making her way out of the room.

The Master never thought about love, the concept itself seemed so...human to him. The Doctor would bring it up sometimes, usually in the context of a book she happened to be reading, or talking about someone she used to know, and those conversations would always end with her avoiding his gaze or thinking about something long gone. They made her sad, so the Master never brought it up again, opting instead to sit in comfortable silence with her, playing with her hair as she lay her head in his lap. On nights when the Master didn’t return to his own ship, which still floated peacefully beside the Doctor’s, they would lay in her bed together with the Master occupying the quiet in the room with a random story while the Doctor pressed kisses to his neck or his cheek or anywhere she could reach. It sent warmth through him, he’d stop his story just to kiss her again. When she pulled away and looked at him, there was an emotion in her eyes he couldn’t recognize, but he’s sure she saw the same in his because she would grin widely and pull him into another kiss. 

They never talked about it, and the Master was sure he’d never have the courage to really tell her, but he knew he was in love. Or at least, he thought he did. He wondered if he’d ever truly know.


	7. Wont Say I'm in Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do you love someone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a mix of both angst and fluff so I hope you all enjoy.
> 
> HAPPY DOCTOR WHO DAY!
> 
> if you want to leave a request or just say hi you can do so here
> 
> www.tumblr.com/gayforthe13th

“So..” When the Master looked up, wondering who dared to bother him while he was enjoying his quiet time deep inside the Doctor’s library, he found himself surrounded by her annoying band of human pets. The human girl stood in the middle, clearly the leader of whatever fruitless intervention they were about to have with him, her voice was the one who roused him from his thoughts and the one whose head he was going to shoot off first. 

“I’m not leaving your precious Doctor’s ship,” he muttered, closing his book with his thumb in place of a bookmark. The three humans shared an exasperated look before the human girl (he didn’t bother to recall their names) spoke up again.

“Funny you should mention that, seeing that she seems pretty precious to you too.”

The Master scoffed, rolling his eyes, “well of course she is,” he says, leaning forward in his chair, “what’s your point?”

“My  _ point _ is that the two of you are obviously dating, and obviously in love. So why won’t you tell her that? Why do you call yourself her friend when you’re clearly more than that?” The Master’s eyes narrowed, his gaze flickered over to the younger male, who was avoiding his gaze like he wanted nothing to do with the situation, the older one fixing him with a glare of his own.

“Why do you humans have to meddle in  _ everything _ ?” the Master growled, abandoning his book in favor of getting up, seeing as he wasn’t going to relax in any way today, “our relationship is complicated.” The girl rolls her eyes, arms crossed she seemed almost relaxed, if not mildly annoyed, in his presence and that wouldn’t do one bit. The Master’s fists clenched, one part of him ready to strike fear into her heart, the other thought of the Doctor’s face once she realized what he was about to do and forced him to relax. 

“You say it’s complicated but look at you! You’ve been here long enough for me to know that if you didn’t really love the Doctor you would have killed us ages ago. But you care about her opinion, so here we are.”

“Yaz don’t provoke him mate, he could still probably kill us,” the younger male hissed to his overly confident friend. 

“Listen to him Yaz. I suggest you keep your nose out of my business,” and with that, he left, the door slamming shut behind him.

The Doctor had a particularly interesting adventure planned today. She was excited to bring her friends along for the ride, although a bit upset that the Master had refused to go as well. He’d been acting strange and refused to tell her why. But she was used to the Master being moody at times, knowing that as soon as she came back he would stop sulking long enough to tell her what was going on. Her companions were standing in the console room as she danced around, flicking switches and setting coordinates. They were awfully quiet, usually, they were full of questions. She tried to keep them enthused, hoping that they weren’t thinking of asking her something too serious. “Doctor, I’ve got a question,” spoke too soon. The Doctor looked up to find Ryan leaning against the console awkwardly as if someone had made him. He was looking at anything but her, but she noticed his eyes flicker to Yaz now and again, who silently nudged him to continue, he cleared his throat, “so uh, you and that...Master bloke. You’re dating yeah?” he spoke like saying the name made him cringe inside and out, which was pretty accurate really. 

“Oh uh, well I suppose we are,” the Doctor muttered, eyes fixed on the console. 

“So are you like…” Ryan paused, trying to find the right words, or maybe just struggling to say them she couldn’t really tell, “are you like in love with him?” The Doctor froze, her hands hovering over the brake handle. Was she? Did what she feel count as love, at least in the human sense. For a moment the Doctor recalled Rose. Sure she had liked Rose at the time, Rose was special. She said she loved her, but the feeling in the pit of her stomach when she thought about it was different than what she felt with the Master. Rose was human, the love she felt with her was the almost guilty kind, the kind that told her Rose would die soon, that they could never truly be in love. Then she thought about River. River was strange, almost everywhere at once. She loved River, of course, River was her wife. And when they met, however out of order those meetings were, she enjoyed them. But the love she felt for River was complicated, she could never quite place the logistics of it. The Master was nothing like the two of them were, the Master was her oldest friend. They fought and clashed constantly but always found their way to each other regardless. She never thought about loving the Master, always assuming that he was incapable of feeling it. 

She snapped out of her thoughts, quickly tugging down the brake handle. The TARDIS lurched with a start, her companions startled, holding onto their respective pillars. “Right!” the Doctor said, “the crystal moon! Let's go!” She left her thoughts behind her, but the lingering feeling of worry hung in the back of her mind throughout the trip.

When the Master returned to the Doctor’s TARDIS she was parked over a rift on a random planet, her ship soaking up the radiation while her friends rested in their respective rooms. She knew he would show up sooner or later, so she didn’t bat an eye when he waltzed in, wrapping his arms around her waist her back pressed to his front as he nuzzled his face into her neck. “Where’ve you been all day?” she asked, letting him press kisses up her neck and over her jaw. He was avoiding the question, but she couldn’t be mad at him for it. 

“Your friends have been asking strange questions,” he says, causing her to pull away from him so  she could turn around and face him properly. “Ah,” he muttered, “I’m assuming they’ve asked you too.” She nodded, her hands coming up to gently intertwine their fingers. The Doctor was always a loud thinker, he knew when she was about to say something. It was in the way her fingers twitched in his grasp or the way she shuffled her feet awkwardly. Every regeneration did this, her tenth incarnation would do it constantly. 

“Do you love me?” she asked, finally her eyes met his. She looked...hopeful, afraid..sad. His breath caught in his throat, and for a moment he couldn’t really answer her. 

“I-”

"It’s okay if you don’t,” she says, “I know you care for me. You don’t need to love me I just...I need to understand, so I can know if I feel it too.” His hands leave her to cup her face instead, thumb brushing gently over her cheek as he pulls her into a kiss. The gentleness shocked her but was welcomed nonetheless. 

“I don’t know,” he says as he pulls away, resting his forehead against her, “I don’t know what that feels like. I don’t know if I feel it for you,” he laughs, a sad garbled laugh, “I don’t even know if I’m doing this right.” she nods, remembering how hard it was for Missy to even begin to change for him, this must be even harder. 

“It’s okay,” she says, hand coming up to brush gently against his stubble, “we shouldn’t let it get to us. They’re only human.” the Master chuckles, she felt a stray tear leave his eyes and brushed it away with her thumb. They’d be okay, they’ll figure it out. For now, she was only glad she had him near her.


	8. Heart, Heart, Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Master is planning something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you want to send me a request or just come say hi you can do so here!
> 
> www.tumblr.com/gayforthe13th
> 
> I also have a twitter
> 
> www.twitter.com/illuminatetrash

Timelords were smart, at least that's what they liked to believe. See although Timelords could be brilliant in their own ways, more often than not they were idiots. The Doctor couldn’t read social cues to save her life, this is evident in the way she seemed to actively ignore any of the Master’s attempts to woo her into a date. Yaz knew this wasn’t on purpose, in fact, she had known the Doctor long enough to realize she could be aloof sometimes. “Doctor,” the Master was leaning against the console as she worked, trying desperately to look suave, his head tilted in an attempt to gain her attention, “I was thinking, it’s been a while since we’ve gone somewhere nice.”

“You’re right,” the Doctor said, turning to look at him. Yaz could see the way his spirits rose, and then instantly fell with her next words, “where would you guys like to go?” Ryan snorted, covering his mouth with his hands, Graham looked like he wanted to put the Master out of his misery, and Yaz grinned widely as the Master squeezed his eyes shut and tilted his head up towards the ceiling. 

“Anywhere you want Doc. Surprise us,” she said, watching the way the Master turned to glare at her. She smirked at him, after being here for song long Yaz had managed to grow less afraid of his presence, it made annoying him so much easier. 

“Little help here Master?” the Doctor said, gesturing to the console with a soft smile, the Master practically deflated, and got to work. The two Timelords danced around the console, working together in tandem. Every so often the Master would try to talk to her again, only for her to get distracted by a signal or a button that needed to be pressed. Yaz grinned widely, the Master had given up once the ship had landed but she knew his struggle was far from over. 

“So what's going on with you?” Ryan asked as they exited the ship and stepped onto the lush alien planet before them. The Master straightened himself, stuffing his hands in the pocket of his velvet overcoat. 

“I don’t know what you mean,” he mutters, watching the Doctor as she monologues about the planet they were on like an overrated tour guide, her arms outstretched as she gestures toward the woods they had found themselves in.

“Sure you do mate, I mean if you wanted to go on a date with her you don’t need to do all that elaborate convincing. You would just do what you usually do so..what’s up?” the Master hummed, but didn’t answer him, instead he followed the Doctor as she led the group into a field. 

“Woah,” he heard Yaz gasp as he waltzed up to them and peered out into the field. It was a garden, stretching a mile wide, flowers of different colors and sizes swayed gently in the breeze. They were on Terra 3, a garden planet, cultivated by large centaur looking creatures. From their spot in the fields, they could see a couple of them tending the flowers, the creatures, unlike the horse type centaurs the humans knew, had the torso of a human and the body of wild cats. “It’s beautiful,” Yaz whispered, bending down to get a better look at one of the flowers before her. The Master stood apart from the others, his gaze focused instead on the Doctor, who smiled brightly at her companions as they each took a look at the different flowers. Her golden hair like a halo in the bright sun. She was beautiful, he watched as she picked a flower and placed it in Yaz’s hair with a hint of jealousy. Ryan, whose line of questioning clearly wasn’t done yet, walked up to him, leaning against a tree in the shade beside him.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he said, gesturing towards the Doctor like the Master didn’t know exactly what he was talking about. With a frustrated sigh, he rolled his eyes.

“I have something I want to say to her, but I want it to be special when I say it,” he paused, letting that sink in, and Ryan thought the gesture was almost sweet, “but I don’t want any of  _ you _ around when I say it.” Ah, there it was. 

“You could just do it now, this place is pretty romantic.” the Master scoffed.

“Knowing the Doctor, it’ll only be a minute before she gets herself in trouble and we’re running for our lives from something stupid.” He couldn’t argue with that. He opened his mouth to ask something else, but the Doctor was calling them over, the rest of the group heading further into the field. The Master pushed off the tree, and headed towards her, offering out an arm which she happily took. 

“So, where to now?” he asked as they walked.

“The city is a mile from here, I figured we could have a nice walk then head into the city and grab a bite,” she said, the Master nodded. The Doctor looked at him like she wanted to say something, but instead, she pulled him along the pathway they were walking on, waving enthusiastically to a cheetah centaur who was raking a plot of land. She nodded back to her with a smile, her eyes lingered on the Master for a moment before she turned away. They reached the city in a matter of minutes, the trio of humans grinning enthusiastically as the centaur people watched them with awe. Yaz made friends with a group of lionesses selling earrings as soon as they walked inside. While the group was busy fawning over the flower-shaped earrings the Master spotted another stall a little away from it. He slunk away from the group and over to the lynx man selling jewels and that's where he spotted it. A blue sapphire necklace sat neatly on the show table, the lynx’s tail flicked with intrigue as the Master eyed it.

“How much?” he said, gesturing towards the jewel, the lynx smirked, his tail twitched over the necklace.

“Seven hundred reems,” he said, “but, I am willing to make trades.” The Master hummed, fishing in his pocket he pulled out a ring, it was silver, not flashy but it had foreign writing on it and a green gem in the middle the lynch watched it with intrigue. The Master offered it out to him, which he took happily and then handed the necklace to him, which he pocketed without saying anything further, merely nodding at the lynx before walking back to the group.

“Where have you been?” the Doctor asked, a nice new pair of earrings with pink flowers hung from her ears. The Master smiled softly at her, grasping the earring gently between his thumb and forefinger.

“It suits you,” he says, watching as her face reddened. 

“Thanks,” she smiled warmly at him, offering him her arm. “Shall we continue on?” the Master nodded, looping his arm through hers and letting her lead him back to the group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> we'll be staying with these big cat centaurs for a while, I like them lol


	9. Cat Person

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Master is a cat person and a Doctor person

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> big fluff fest! 
> 
> if you'd like to leave a request or just come say hi you can do so here
> 
> www.tumblr.com/gayforthe13th

The cat-centaurs (sphinx’s? cattaurs?) were nice people, the Doctor, and her companions enjoyed talking to them, learning all they could about their planet and their people and the cats were happy to tell them. It was the companions who asked the brunt of the questions, getting mildly annoyed whenever the Doctor put her two cents in. But the Master, the Master was their favorite, he considered himself to be a bit of a cat person, the cheetah virus had left him no room to really argue. They loved him, the girls would come up to them every now and again just to learn about him, they giggled and asked questions, their tails would flick against his legs for wrap around his waist. The Master was a sucker for attention, he loved it, practically glowed when they spoke to him. When the gang stopped to relax by another, more open, section of the gardens on the far side of the city the Master found himself surrounded by lionesses who had taken to lounging in the sun, beside them was a lion who, although he looked uninterested, was listening intently as the Master told them a story. 

The others were relaxing in their own separate areas, Yaz chatting animatedly with a panther who was working on misting some alien-looking flowers. Ryan was lounging in the sun with Graham, and the Doctor, well, the Doctor was uncharacteristically quiet. It was Yaz who had taken notice, that as the Master’s popularity grew, the Doctor’s mood sank. She was watching the Master intensely, and Yaz could smell the jealousy from where she stood. She said her ‘thank yous’ to the panther, and then head over to the Doctor, sitting beside her in the grass. “What's wrong?” she asked, though she already knew, she assumed it’d be better if the Doctor told her instead. The Doctor, who was twisting a blade of grass in her fingers, snapped out of her thoughts to look at Yaz with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. 

“Nothing, I’m fine,” she says, and Yaz rolls her eyes. 

“C’mon Doctor, I know you’re not. You’ve been murdering that blade of grass for twenty minutes,” she says, nudging her head to the Doctor’s hand. The Doctor dropped the grass like it was on fire, her hands instead fisting the cuff of her pants. 

“Why’s he care about the aliens all of a sudden? He hates other creatures. And suddenly he’s buddy-buddy with a bunch of..of..” Yaz bites her lip to hold back a laugh, shaking her head she looks over at the Master, who was lounging on the lioness body of one of the girls as she played with his hair, he was preening in their presence a wide flashy grin on his face as she spoke. “I shouldn’t even care..” the Doctor mutters.

“Doctor, I think you may be suffering from jealousy,” Yaz says, with mock seriousness, “don’t worry, it happens to the best of us.” the Doctor rolls her eyes.

“M’not jealous I just..Don’t get it”

“Doctor,” Yaz says, placing a hand on her shoulder, “let me tell you, that I hate the Master. I do, I’m not his biggest fan,” the Doctor stares at her, and Yaz puts a hand up before continuing, “ _ but  _ I know he likes you. A lot, so there’s no need to be jealous because I know for a fact that as soon as you get over there his attention will be on you entirely.” The Doctor, who was deep in thought once again, shook her head and sighed.

“I-I...I don’t want to disturb him. He seems happy.” Yaz groaned. Was she really going to have to do all the work here?

“Doctor he’s happy with you!” Yaz lifted herself up, dusting her pants off she held out her hand, “up you get c’mon you’re going over there.” the Doctor hesitantly takes her hand and lets her pull her up, she lets go as soon as she’s up and nudges her in the Master’s direction. The Doctor sucks in a breath, before walking over to the group, feeling a pit in her stomach as the conversation crawls to a stop and the Master’s eyes land on her. Her breathing stops altogether, this idea was stupid, she was stupid for doing this. The back of her mind was telling her to turn around, to just leave. But the Master's talking before she can put that plan into action.

“Hello my dear,” he says eyeing her, and it sends her hearts fluttering in her chest. 

“Hello, I uh, I was going to go explore the rest of the garden and um..” she paused, wringing her hands together nervously, “would you like to come with me.” the girls giggle, their tails flicking happily as they lift themselves up and away from the Master.

“He talks a lot about you,” one of them says, with a soft smile, “you certainly are very pretty.” the Doctor’s eyes widen, she blushes and tucks her hair behind her ear. The Master clears his throat, getting up.

“Alright alright that's enough,” he says, taking the Doctor’s hand and pulling her away before the giggling lionesses could say anything else embarrassing. They walk hand and hand onto a path the Doctor had discovered, leading him away from her friends. 

“You think I’m pretty?” she says, as they walk, nudging his shoulder gently. The Master huffs but doesn’t deny anything.

“Where are you taking me?” he asks instead, watching as the Doctor bites her lip and realizing she really didn’t have a destination in mind, “oh, you just wanted me away from them didn’t you?” when she doesn’t answer, his grin widens, “you were jealous. Don’t deny it I can feel it. We're still linked you know.”

“Oh, do shut up,” she says, her cheeks red. Of course, she knew, she kept the link up on purpose after all. The Master’s grin falters for a moment, he clears his throat, stopping in his tracks. 

“Doctor..” he says, the softness in his voice catches the Doctor’s attention. She turns, searching him for any sign that he might not be okay, but he stood in the middle of the path, perfectly fine, his hand in his pocket, “I uh, I have something to tell you.” For a moment, the Doctor worries, she sucks in a breath.

“What?” she takes a step forward. The Master bites his lip, digging through his pocket he pulls out something but its obscured by his hand, the Doctor can see a chain fall from in between his fingers. 

“I’ve been thinking, ever since we talked about it, about love and..and all that,” he stutters, cursing himself for even feeling week and straightening himself up. “I think, well no. I-I know that I love you. You asked me if I had, and I didn’t know before but I do now. I-I thought a lot about it, about different cultures and planets and all the ways they say they love one another, and I realized..” he pauses, “I realized..that, I love you in the way that I want to. Because there isn’t one right way to love someone.” he huffs, twisting the object in his hand before spreading it out, revealing the sapphire necklace to her. She smiles, reaching out to gently take it from him, and turn it in her hand. “I love you,” he says, like it's a matter of fact, his voice as strong as ever. 

“Koschei I..” The Doctor’s eyes leave the necklace and she studies his face for a moment before she’s wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down into a rough kiss. She forms a link, presses gently against his and he lets her in with ease, his mind whispering ‘I love yous’ against hers as he tilts his head and deepens the kiss. His hands gripped her hips as he pulls their bodies flush against each other, he lets out a soft sigh through his nose, the kiss softening as they melted into each other. She pulls back first, turning the necklace over and putting it on, once it sits snugly upon her neck she twists the gem in her fingers and grins. 

“I love you too,” she says, her mind pouring out her feelings, happy and gentle into his as he holds her. Relief floods from him like a wave, and she giggles at the feeling before pulling herself back, “we should head back,” she says.

“If you’d like.” she grins, pressing a kiss to his cheek and taking his hand, the two walk back the way they came, biding their time and taking in each other’s presence before they have to meet back up with their friends.

Once they had returned, it seemed that the roles were reversed, the lionesses ran up to the Doctor with grins on their faces, each marveling at her necklace or congratulating the Master. Both timelords blushed furiously, the Doctor grinning widely as the lionesses crowded around her. The commotion gained the attention of her companions, Ryan who eyed the Doctor’s necklace and then the Master’s relaxed posture put two and two together easily, sending a wink in the Master’s direction the latter of whom was in too good of a mood to send back an annoyed retort. Yaz watched the commotion with a small smile on her face, as Graham joined her. “I’m glad you’re happy Doctor,” Yaz says, once she reaches the Doctor’s side. The Doctor smiles at her, nodding her head, “so,” Yaz continues with a smirk, “when’s the wedding.” she watches the Doctor’s face turn a bright red as she stutters over her words and considers her job done.


	10. Sapphire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the Doctor loves her new necklace

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more chapter to go!

The Doctor hadn’t stopped fiddling with her necklace since the moment the Master had given it to her. It had been a number of days since then, the Master had taken to traveling with them in tandem, often appearing at a specific planet later or just leaving his TARDIS tethered to the Doctor’s and spending his time with her inside. Sometimes, they would switch ships, the Doctor spending her time laying in his bed and fiddling with the necklace, or helping him fix something in his ship while he teased her mercilessly about the goggles she wore on her head “you don’t even need them,” he would say, “its the specks all over again.” the Doctor would merely threaten not to fix his ship and he’d begrudgingly stay silent.

When she was with her companions and they were running from something or just fighting off a hostile element, Ryan and Graham would tease her about the way she clutched her necklace in her hand as she ran, or fiddled with it while she was thinking. This went on especially on days where the Master wasn’t with them. The Master hadn’t mentioned it until they were lying in bed together, the Doctor twisting the gem in her fingers as the Master played with her hair. “You really like that, don’t you?” he asked, pressing a kiss to her head. 

“I really like you,” she purrs, twisting her head to press a kiss to his lips, which he answers eagerly. 

“No,” he says, pressing another soft kiss to her lips, “you looove me.” she pulls away from him, rolling her eyes. 

“Well now I’m not kissing you,” she attempts to roll off the bed and away from him but he’s wrapping his arm around her waist and rolling her back over, pulling her on top of him with a grin.

“Now now Doctor, just where do you think you’re going?” she giggles, her hand comes down to his waist but he doesn’t notice until she’s tickling his sides and his grip on her loosens as he laughs. She takes that as her chance to scramble away from him, yelping as he launches at her and starts tickling her sides in retaliation. It became an all-out war then, the Doctor maneuvering her body until she could wrap her legs around his waist and use them to push him off the bed. He falls, but not before taking a pillow with him and chucking it at her head. 

“You bastard!” she laughs, hopping off the bed to push him down to the floor, taking the pillow  with her she hits him repeatedly as he laughs almost maniacally. He grabs the pillow, tugging until she was on top of him once again. “Just like the old days,” he says and she laughs, breathless. He smiles warmly at her, leaning up to press a kiss to her lips, soft and sweet. His fingers trail down her neck until it meets her hand, which was clutching onto the sapphire. His hand wraps around hers, his thumb brushing her knuckles as he tastes the strawberry chapstick she had put on earlier. The kiss deepens, his teeth nibbling on her bottom lip, body pressing into hers and then-

The door slides open and there’s a yelp, followed by the Doctor pulling away from him. “Oh uh,” Ryan stutters nervously, earning a venomous glare from the Master, “sorry but uh..I was looking for the cinema room..” the Doctor sighed, lifting herself up.

“I’ll help you find it,” she says, giving the Master a soft apologetic smile as he pouted in her direction. 

“You better come back,” he says.

“Of course love, always.” she guides Ryan out of the room, he decides not to mention what he saw. 

“You seem happy,” he says instead, as they walk down the ever stretching halls to the cinema room. The Doctor hums, smiling brightly.

“Yeah, feels like things just started getting better. I always felt like something was missing, in my hearts you know. It’s different now.”

“Will, you ever tell us?” Ryan asks, “about him?”

“I will..I promise,” the Doctor says, stopping once they reach the door to the cinema room, “we go way back. Him and I.”


	11. We're All Stories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Doctor tells her friends her story

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end! Thank you for reading I hope you all enjoyed! I have more fanfiction in the works, I'm currently working on an 11/Simm!Master fic if anyone wants to check it out.
> 
> other than that thank you for sticking with this story, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I loved writing it!

True to her word the Doctor told her companions everything. Though she would have avoided it longer if she could but her friends managed to crowd her into a room one day and coax the answers out of her. The Master had walked in a bit later, only to find her telling a story wrong and he sat down to bully her into telling it correctly. “You were the one who started the prank wars it definitely wasn’t me,” he had said with a huff, before launching into a story of his own. They spoke about Gallifrey, about how beautiful and yet corrupt it was, about the war and the Academy. It brought back memories the Doctor wanted to forget, but telling them took a weight off her hearts she didn’t know what there. When it came to companions, they tended to find things out on their own, or by accident, or from enemies but never from the Doctor themselves. She used to think she was alone, that no one would understand the things she had been through, in a way it was still true, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there for her. 

As she spoke of the war the Master had held her hand, squeezing gently whenever he felt she needed to be grounded. “That’s awful, no wonder you hated that Dalek,” Yaz said, tears forming in her eyes.

“That and it was trying to take over the world,” Ryan chimed in, earning a sharp nudge from Graham though the Doctor merely laughed. 

“Thank you for telling us Doctor, we’re sorry we pried,” Yaz said, resting a hand on her friend’s shoulder. The Doctor smiled warmly at her, shaking her head and letting go of the Master’s hand to place it over Yaz’s.

“Don’t worry about it, I didn’t tell you, you couldn’t have known it was as bad as it was.” The Master, who was silent for the duration of this story, then decided to speak up about destroying Gallifrey a second time. The room fell silent, he felt the weight of a million eyes on him but spoke nevertheless peppering apologies as he did. The Doctor’s hand found her way back to his, though this time she lifted it up to kiss it gently, a silent acceptance to his apology though she had forgiven him a long time ago.

“The timelords sound like assholes,” Ryan muttered, though it was evident that he was bothered by what the Master and the Doctor had done.

“That doesn’t make what we did right, I know that now,” the Master spoke, his voice wavering, “I was just so...angry, and so used to destruction.” 

“Neither of us cope very well,” the Doctor said, chuckling softly in an attempt to lighten the mood, it worked somewhat. A quiet stretched over them, but it wasn’t the awkward kind. It was a moment of silence, in remembrance and regret, yet also anger. They had every right to be angry, their civilization had collapsed around them for the second time, and it hurt. The Doctor’s mind is too far away for her to hear the screeching of a chair across the floor, followed by several others, but she feels a warm envelope her and blinks back tears when she realizes she’s being hugged. Her last regeneration wasn’t a hugger, he hated the idea of not being able to see another person’s face, and the aversion to touching didn’t help much either. This version was slow to trust, she knew this, she knew from the moment she regenerated. She had lost so much and yet in the space of then and now she had found her friend, along with three new ones. She leaned into their touches, and let them crowd around her and hug her until all she could feel was their arms around her. She shared a look with the Master, who definitely was not a hugger, and smiled warmly at him to which he responded to by forcing a smile and looking away. When the others finally let go she took that as her chance to lean her body against his, feeling him relax under her touch as her mind reached out and enveloped his in a pseudo hug. He flinched at the feeling, but she knew he liked it. 

“Thank you guys, really,” she says, as her friends smile brightly at her and bid her goodnight before retiring to their respective rooms leaving her and the Master in the kitchen sitting side by side. She was glad for her human friends, she had many throughout the years but it took her a long time to realize that each new friend she made was an addition to one big family, one that she never knew she missed until now.

“You know, I have hope..” the Master says, after the silence stretches for a moment, “you gave me hope.” the Doctor hums, pressing a kiss to his cheek. 

“Good, we’ll make it through whatever’s next...together.”

“Yeah, together.”


End file.
